Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1999
(Phone: 202/358-1547)
Jim Sahli
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone: 301/286-0697)
Dr. Paul J. Coleman, Jr.
Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD
(Phone: 310/825-1776)
Shauna LaFauci or Joan Schwartz
Boston University Office of Public Relations
(Phone: 617/353-2240)
RELEASE: 99-64
TERRIERS SATELLITE OUT OF POWER; RECOVERY TEAM TO BE FORMED
The student-built TERRIERS satellite seems to have run out
of battery power, according to Boston University team members, who
have been unable to communicate with the satellite since Tuesday
evening. The spacecraft had been losing power since its launch
Tuesday morning because it has not been able to orient itself so
that its solar panels fully face the Sun.
A recovery team of spacecraft engineers and other experts
will be formed to develop a plan to return the satellite to
operation. The team will be headed by the Universities Space
Research Association (USRA) of Columbia, MD, which administers the
Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative for NASA. TERRIERS was
selected under the initiative and built by students at Boston
University. NASA will provide engineering support for the team.
"We remain hopeful that the solar panel will slowly charge
the spacecraft and that, in time, the satellite will turn itself
on," said Dan Cotton, principal investigator from Boston
University. "Current data indicates that the spacecraft is in the
correct orbit and spinning appropriately about the right axis."
The project managers are reviewing the data for information
on the status of the spacecraft and will continue attempting to
contact the spacecraft and monitor its progress.
The spacecraft was successfully launched at 1:09 a.m. EDT
Tuesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, aboard an Orbital
Science Corp. Pegasus rocket.